


After the Children

by all_the_ships_are_sailing



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-10
Updated: 2013-04-10
Packaged: 2017-12-08 02:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/all_the_ships_are_sailing/pseuds/all_the_ships_are_sailing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Children of Earth. Jack's immortality is explained (not how it was in Miracle Day). Ignores the existence of Miracle Day entirely. Also does not take into account "House of the Dead" or other radio plays. Written late March 2013, prior to my other works. Just transferring it here from fanfiction(dot)net for the sake of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Alonso

Jack was drinking his sorrows down at the Intergalactic Bar as he hadn't done for many years, mostly because the Doctor had "fixed" his teleport device so he couldn't. Somehow after everything that had just happened with the children and the 456, it was working again and Gwen made him this great new band for it. As he was nearing the end of his drink, he looked up for the bartender. The young man was already headed towards Jack carrying a folded up piece of paper.

The bartender laid the paper on the bar in front of Jack. "From the man, over there," he said as he pointed over his shoulder and walked away. Jack glanced up in that direction to see one of the last people he was expecting. The Doctor was looking at him, hands in the pockets of his pin-striped pants. Jack looked down and opened the note. It said, "His name is Alonso," in the Doctor's familiar scroll.

Jack looked up again at the Doctor who smiled and nodded towards the attractive midshipman sitting to Jack's left. Jack turned to face Alonso for a second and drew in a breath. He wasn't sure a hook-up was quite what he was after, believe it or not. He looked back to the Doctor one last time. The Doctor saluted casually and Jack pulled his right arm into a full military salute. The Doctor nodded as he turned and left without a word.

This was the Doctor's recommendation after all, so it couldn't be too wrong. Jack turned to face Alonso again and got up the courage to speak. "So, Alonso." The man turned to look at Jack. "Goin' my way?" he added forcing a small smile.

"How do you know my name?"

Thinking on his feet when his heart was so far gone wasn't exactly the easiest thing. "I'm kind of psychic," Jack answered. He allowed himself a small laugh for the first time in a long time.

"Really?"

Jack nodded seductively.

"Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"Oh yeah."

Alonso smiled and nodded. Jack laughed again and downed the last of his drink, slamming the glass to the bar. That night would be one Alonso would never forget, though if Jack hadn't kept the Doctor's note he was sure he would have forgotten the man's name by morning.

Jack had an impressively long list of lovers over his many lifetimes, but none of them were permanent. None of his lovers were more than just that, lovers. They lasted weeks, sometimes months, or even years, but they were only lovers. Jack didn't like the word "couple." It made him feel too tied down. A 51st Century man didn't get tied down in love, at least not unless he wanted to be and that was another story entirely. But no, Jack Harkness would never attach himself to any one person. The word "couple" and the pure notion of a long-term exclusive relationship made him sick to his stomach. But something was different this time.

One of the closest things Jack ever had to a real relationship was with the Italian girl, Lucia Moretti, some 30 years prior. From that romance had sprung his wonderful, beautiful daughter Alice, but he was sure he'd never see her again after what had happened with Steven to defeat the 456. The boy, his grandson, had never known that Jack was his grandfather, no, instead Alice insisted on calling him Uncle Jack. He wasn't going to argue with her over it though, it was enough that he was able to see Steven, watch him growing up and spend time with Alice every now and then, and he wasn't going to jeopardize that over something small like this.

In recent years however, Jack had flirted inconsequentially with too many people to count, but had his real needs met by only one lover. Ianto Jones was something different. Jack knew his flirting and hatred of committed relationships hurt Ianto, but he was still there every time Jack needed or wanted him. Ianto had saved Jack from a concrete tomb a few months ago and then Jack had failed to save Ianto from the poisonous air inside Thames House.

Jack snuck silently around the room, gathering his clothes, and then with one final look at Alonso sprawled across the hotel-room bed, still fast asleep, he opened the door and quickly left. He wandered the small resort planet at the edge of the galaxy for a while before deciding that perhaps it was for the best to just go back to Earth. He wanted to see Gwen and Rhys's child. He didn't want to disappoint Gwen. He'd just disappointed everyone else in his life. He'd held his lover in his arms as he'd breathed his last breath and hours later he'd stood by and watched his own grandson die in front of his eyes to save millions of other children around the world. Tosh and Owen only months before had died while in his command.

When he'd left earth it was with the intention to never return. He intended to start a new life somewhere in the stars and far away from his old one. He'd spent 6 months travelling Earth, trying to find his place there and had failed. He'd now spent 2 weeks travelling the galaxies trying to find his place in them and had failed again. Maybe this was all leading to the answer he was dreading the most. Maybe the life he'd left. The life he'd run away from was the only choice he had.

Jack arrived on the same hillside he'd left. He looked down over Cardiff towards the waterfront, where the remnants of the Torchwood Hub were in the final stages of getting cleared up. It pained Jack to see the place he'd called home for so many years left in such a state. Tears welled up in the corner of Jack's eyes and he blinked rapidly to clear them. Jack sat on the hillside and watched the sun set over Cardiff Bay. The memories were too much. When the sun finally faded into night, Jack got to his feet and looked at the teleport strapped to his wrist.

Jack contemplated the decision for at least an hour before deciding that the only logical choice was to go and find Gwen and Rhys. He climbed back down the hillside and walked the whole way across the city to their flat. It was late and Rhys's car was out front, so hopefully they were in. He knocked on the door and not two seconds later it flew open and a very pregnant Gwen was standing in the frame with her hands on her hips. "Beautiful as always, Gwen," he said with a genuine smile.

"Where have you been, Jack?" He couldn't tell if she sounded more relieved or angry.

"All sorts of places. The Medusa Cascade was brilliant. I ended up at the Intergalactic Bar at the edge of Galaxy Seven. I had more than a few drinks and was about to order another when the Doctor showed up."

"Oh, so the Doctor was just out at a bar while the world was falling to pieces. GREAT!" Angry. She was definitely angry this time.

"Gwen, the Doctor knows what's going to happen in time and space. He can't prevent or fix or cause anything that's a fixed point to change. I've told you that. What happened was supposed to happen and WE saved the world."

"YOU did it. You're the one that saved the world, Jack." Now she sounded proud of him. This woman's emotions really were less predictable than…well…less predictable than pretty much anything. A side-effect of the pregnancy he assumed.

"I might have saved the world, but I lost everyone that was important to me in the process," he mumbled under his breath, but of course Gwen heard him.

"Oi!" she slapped him on the shoulder, "and what are Rhys and I, then?"

"What do you mean? I've upset you, clearly," he said as he rubbed the shoulder she'd slapped.

Gwen hugged Jack out of nowhere. She couldn't be mad at him after everything that just happened. He didn't know what had just happened and he couldn't be sure it would last, but it would seem that at least for the time being he had Gwen back on his side.


	2. Ianto's Story

Rhiannon Davies "Rhia" (his sister) and Gwen Cooper (his coworker at Torchwood) together arranged Ianto Jones's funeral. It was held two weeks after his death in a beautiful old church at the center of Cardiff city. Gwen made a point to tell Jack the date and the place numerous times, but he would never give her a straight answer, making excuses but never quite saying no.

When the day finally came for the funeral, Gwen was still holding out hope that Jack would turn up. All day she waited, watching the door and every time it opened, she'd tense up with anticipation, but every time it was just another face she didn't recognize. Jack didn't come. After the day of viewing, Gwen stayed with Rhia and Johnny as they closed Ianto's casket for the final time to prepare for his burial in the morning.

Rhia, Johnny, and their children were seated in the front row as the minister spoke about a man he'd never met like he'd known him all his life. Gwen and Rhys were just behind them with a few others they'd met once or twice. When the funeral was over and Ianto's body was buried, Gwen and Rhys stayed behind with Rhia and Johnny for a while just to talk. They thought it only fair that Rhia know what her brother had done just before he died. How he and Jack had been there in the room with the 456 and how they died, because they stood up for what was right.

Only one person in that house knew what was really happening and she somehow managed to keep it to herself for the next year.

What Ianto never told anyone at Torchwood, not even Jack, with whom he'd shared everything, was that years and years ago while working for Torchwood One in London, Ianto had had a very close encounter with a time rift. The same time rift that had opened the portal through which the Doctor lost his Rose the first time. Ianto had inhaled at just the wrong time. Something that at the moment seemed a very bad idea. You see, Ianto had inhaled some of the rift, some of the very time vortex into his lungs that day. What Ianto himself didn't even realize was the long-lasting effects of this mistake in timing.

Ianto lay dead, surround by the bodies of all the others who had perished at Thames House. Days later his body lay in a freezer vault within MI5, waiting to be released to his sister. Days later still his body lay in a casket inside a prestigious old church in the city of Cardiff. Ianto sat up with a gasp. He let out his breath with a long sigh, frightened at first. He looked around. It took him a moment to figure out where he was and why he was there.

"A funeral," he said to himself looking around. "My funeral," he said looking down at his suit and the wooden casket he was lying in. "But how?"

"I can explain," came a voice Ianto didn't recognize. It was a young man; he was standing near the stairwell in the front of the church, not far from where Ianto lay. "But I don't think now is either the time or place." The man came over to Ianto and helped him down from the casket. When he got closer, Ianto could see that his eyes seemed older than his body would say.

Together Ianto and the mysterious man gathered sand bags from just outside the door of the church and lifted them into the casket to equal Ianto's weight, and together they closed the lid. "There, I think that should do it. Now, Ianto Jones, come with me." The man waved for Ianto to follow him towards the exit. They walked out into the chilly night air and Ianto looked around. Everything appeared just as he'd left it.

"Now, would you mind? How is it that I'm alive, sir? And who are you?"

"Not just here, come along," the man said as he gestured for Ianto to follow again. They crossed the street and rounded a corner. The man then pointed towards a blue police box, by which a young girl seemed to be waiting for him. "In here." The man opened the doors with a small golden key. He stepped through the doors and disappeared into the dark interior. The girl followed him, waving her hello at Ianto as she passed.

Ianto stood in the moonlit street staring at the strange blue box. The girl's head reappeared in the doorway. "Are you coming or what?"

"But we won't all three fit in there. There's no way."

"Oh, come on, silly," she said grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him inside. The doors snapped closed behind him. Ianto looked around, he was inside an impossible thing.

"B-but, it's b-bigger…on the inside."

"They always say that," said the man, poking his head out from around the large center consol. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Clara," he said gesturing to the girl. "And this is my TARDIS," he said as he waved his arm above him in a grand sort of way.

"Doctor? Doctor Who?"

"Just the Doctor," he said laughing to himself. "We've met before, Ianto, or don't you remember?"

"I've never seen you before in my life, sir."

"Not with this face on, no. I'm a friend of Captain Jack Harkness."

"Oh! You're that Doctor!" Ianto said with sudden realization. "You're the Doctor."

"Yes, yes, there we are. Now, we really must be off. Clara and I have planets to save, and well if I can get it just right, you have a captain waiting." Speaking of Clara, she had left the room for reasons Ianto didn't know.

"What?"

"Jack, of course. I told him I had a surprise for him and that I'd be back in a jiffy. Then that was about a year from now…but anyway, off we go."

"What?" Ianto still didn't understand what was going on.

"He wants to tell you both at once," Clara said reemerging from one of the halls carrying a platter with three mugs. "Coffee or tea?" she said approaching him.

"Coffee," he said, turning back to the Doctor. "Where are we going?"

"You're friend's place."

"Who?"

"Gwen, that's her name, yeah? The pregnant one."

"Yeah, that's Gwen."

The TARDIS made a very loud noise and shook back and forth a bit. Ianto held on, but the Doctor and Clara seemed not to notice at all. Clara handed him a mug of coffee as another loud noise emanated from the engines and the shaking came to a stop.

"You two wait here, I'll come and get you when we're ready," the Doctor said heading for the door. He stepped out into the night, leaving Ianto and Clara waiting inside his TARDIS.


	3. Reunion

Jack was walking towards Gwen and Rhys's flat when he heard an all-too-familiar noise. It was the TARDIS materialization noise and he'd know it anywhere. He spun himself in a circle until he spotted the familiar blue box a few yards away, almost directly across from Gwen's flat. He changed direction immediately and walked up to the box, knocking on the door. The door opened, but there was a man he didn't recognize before him. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"The Doctor. Who else arrives in a big blue box? Honestly, Jack."

"You've changed your face again." Jack said rolling his eyes, "What happened this time?"

"Oh, oh. I've been this me for a couple hundred years. It's been a long time since I've seen you. I just wanted to check in."

"Well, there you are then," Jack said looking over his shoulder to the window of Gwen's flat. He could see Rhys holding little Anwen and Gwen cooking in the distance.

"I should have visited sooner I suppose, but I just ran into you in something like the year 4500 the other day and I have a bit of a surprise for you actually."

"So, you've been visiting me in the future but not the present?" Jack was skeptical at best.

The Doctor simply smiled. "Clara, come and see," the Doctor said looking back inside the TARDIS. A young woman appeared at his side with a smile on her face.

When Clara spotted Jack, her smile broadened. "You're Captain Jack Harkness. We've met, but of course we haven't really. I'm Clara," she said holding out her hand.

"Hello," Jack said seductively as he shook her hand. He then looked back to the Doctor. "You said you had a surprise, is she it then?"

"Oh, no, no. This is just Clara. She's travelling with me. Your surprise isn't here just yet actually. I just wanted to make sure I'd know where to find you once I'd gone and collected it."

"Uh huh. And is it going to take you another six months to show up with that then?"

"No, no. A few hours I'd say. I'll be back before you're done with dinner."

Jack looked at the Doctor with skepticism in his eyes.

"Really now. I'll be back tonight and I'll explain everything. Just run along to dinner then."

Jack rolled his eyes and turned to head towards Gwen and Rhys's flat again. Gwen was standing in the window now, eyeing the TARDIS with curiosity, holding the baby in her arms. Jack was sure she'd sent Rhys out after him. Didn't want him running off with the Doctor again, at least not without saying good-bye. Jack smiled at Gwen and Anwen before turning back to the TARDIS just as the Doctor was about to disappear back inside.

"Doctor!" he called.

"What is it?"

"That face really suits you, I think. And I like the bow tie," Jack said with a smile. He turned back and headed towards the flat.

"See! Bow ties are cool, Clara, they're cool!" the Doctor's voice yelled as the TARDIS door closed.


	4. Reunion, part two

As Jack stepped onto the sidewalk, he heard another noise he'd never forget. He turned his head just in time to watch the TARDIS fade away, and turned back around just in time for Rhys to fling the front door open in his face.

"Well, hello there," Jack said with a shocked smile.

"Jack," Rhys said, nodding. "Gwen seemed to think you were going to be running away again."

"Not today, Rhys. Not today," he said with a smile. Rhys led Jack back up the stairs and into the flat. Gwen was at the door, Anwen in her arms. Jack said hello to her and not two seconds later, the little baby was in Jack's arms as Gwen finished setting the table for dinner. Jack had made almost daily visits to their flat since Anwen's birth. The three of them, Gwen, Rhys, and Jack had continued the Torchwood mission on a smaller scale. They'd rebuilt the Hub, though not quite to its former glory and gotten back to business, but little Anwen made everything a lot trickier to plan, because someone always had to stay behind to watch her. Jack had suggested, after the first big situation following her birth that maybe they should get an Ood to take care of her so they could have three sets of hands instead of two on their alien adventures, but Gwen had refused. A nanny, Rhys suggested, but Gwen reminded him that there was no way they could hide all of the alien tech from a nanny who would be spending all of his/her time at their flat.

After they had eaten, Jack wandered carefully back to the window, knowing he would find the street as empty as ever, because he'd hear it if the Doctor had really come back, but it couldn't hurt to check. It just so happened that as Jack turned away from the window again, his face falling, the noise did come again. Jack whipped his head back around and stared out the window as the TARDIS materialized in just the same spot as before. A few moments later, the Doctor emerged onto the street and headed for the door of the flat.

"He's back, already?" Gwen said with mock enthusiasm.

"He said he would be. He's got some sort of surprise for me." Jack said as he walked towards the door, grabbing his overcoat from the back of the sofa on his way.

"And you're going with him, are you?"

"If he'll have me," Jack said as if this were never really a question.

"And what will Anwen think, if her Uncle Jack just disappears on her for months or years on end," Gwen said, holding the baby closer to herself.

"I won't be gone for long," Jack said with a smile. "Time machine, remember?"

"Time machine that's never on time, apparently," Gwen said, rolling her eyes as she handed Anwen to Rhys who was sitting in the rocking chair.

There was a knock at the door and Jack turned to open it. On the other side was of course the Doctor, grinning widely. "Hello, Jack," he said with a smile. "I told you I wouldn't be long."

"And for once, your sense of time was actually accurate," Jack said jokingly.

"Yeah, yeah," the Doctor said as he turned from Jack. "Gwen, lovely Gwen, how are you dear?"

"You're not the Doctor I remember," she said stepping closer.

"Oh, no, that's right. I've changed my face, regenerated."

"He looks different every time he dies and comes back. It's a pity really, we can't all stay this handsome every time we die," Jack said gesturing at his own body. Gwen and the Doctor both sighed at Jack's ridiculous comments.

"Anyway," the Doctor said turning back to Jack. "Ready for your surprise?"

"Oh yes!" Jack said with enthusiasm and he followed the Doctor outside. As they approached the TARDIS, he peeked back over his shoulder at Gwen, Rhys, and Anwen watching him in the window and smiled. When they finally got to the big blue box, the Doctor told Jack to wait where he was and he went inside to fetch the surprise.

When the Doctor returned, Clara and Ianto were finishing up their coffee and tea. "Ready, Ianto?"

"I guess?" he said getting to his feet. "Are you ever going to tell me how I survived?"

"I told you I would and I will," he said with a smile. "I want to see if Jack can figure it out first."

"Does he know I'm here? Jack?"

"No. I just told him I had a surprise. Why do you ask?"

"I just. I don't know what to do. What to say? How to act?"

"Just be you. It worked so well before."

"But how long has it been? Has he moved on? Has he forgotten me?"

"It's been a year, give or take. He has not and will not. Don't worry, Ianto. Jack will always be Jack. Clara's met him, ask her."

Ianto turned to Clara and she smiled at him. "Jack loves you, Ianto. Sure, he has a funny way of showing it sometimes, but he really and truly does. Don't expect him to believe it at first, but he will and in the year 4500, don't be surprised when the Doctor and I pop 'round for a visit." She laughed to herself.

"Forty-five-hundred?" Ianto gasped as the Doctor turned back to the door.

"Ready, Ianto?"

"Ready," he said nervously, but his curiosity was beyond his nerves by that point.

The Doctor reappeared at the TARDIS door. "Are you ready for your surprise?"

"I said, yes," Jack said impatiently.

"Alright, just making sure. You have to know something first though, Jack."

"And what's that?"

"This is real. You are not dreaming. It is not some sort of sick joke."

"What?"

"Ianto," the Doctor called turning his head towards the consol.

"Who? What did you just say?" Jack said trying very hard to not believe what he just heard, because that could not be what he really just said.

The Doctor only smiled, before he stepped back, and Ianto appeared at the door, with a huge wide smile on his face. "Hello, Jack," Ianto said stepping out onto the street.

Meanwhile in the flat, overlooking the street, Rhys turned to his wife. "Gwen, who is that?"

"Well, it looks like…" but she couldn't bring herself to say his name. "It can't be," she finished shaking her head as she tried to look closer. Jack had stepped forward hesitantly and she could see their mouths moving, forming words.

"But it can't be," was all Jack could say.

"It's me," Ianto said hesitantly. "It really, really is. I don't know how and I don't know why, but it's me. I'm really here."

Could he bring himself to say the name he'd been avoiding for the past year? Jack wasn't sure he knew the answer to that question at all. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally managed to say anything at all. "That's impossible," was all he could say.

"I think so, too," said Ianto turning to the Doctor. Jack followed Ianto's gaze.

"What did I tell you, Jack?"

"I know what you said, but I can't let myself believe this one. He was dead. He died…in my arms…I watched it happen," Jack said, tears coming to his eyes at the memory.

"And I've watched you die more than once, Jack. Think about it," the Doctor offered.

"But how?" was all Jack could say as he glanced from Ianto to the Doctor and back again.

"I can explain," the Doctor said. "But I was thinking that perhaps your friends might want to know as well," he added shifting his eyes to window where Gwen and Rhys were still trying very hard to see who exactly it was that had followed the Doctor from the TARDIS.

"You know, I think you're right," said Ianto, looking up at them with a smile. "And I want to meet that little one," he added turning back to the Doctor.

"So it's settled then," the Doctor said smiling at them both. "Well just head upstairs and I'll explain it all once and you can pass it along as you wish." He smiled to them as he turned towards the console again. "Clara?"

"Yes?" came her voice from the other side of the room.

"We're going inside, so we can sit while I explain. Care to join us?"

"No, thanks," she said, standing up with a smile. "I'm going to go to my room and read a bit before bed. We're going to the Eye of Orion tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'll be back soon, then," he said turning back to Jack and Ianto, who were still staring at each other in disbelief. "Would you two, please, before we go inside, just believe this is real? It's going to make this a whole lot easier." He said closing the TARDIS door behind him.

"But it can't be real," Jack said again, his eyes filling with tears ready to burst at any moment. "He died, a year ago. He died, in my arms. The first victim of an alien plague. He's not real." He couldn't look at the man's face, and every time he glanced sideways, he was more and more sure of this fact.

"I am Ianto Jones," he said absolutely. "That much I'm 100% sure of." Ianto reached out and touched Jack's shoulder. "I don't know how I'm alive, but I do know that I am and that I am really me."

Jack was quiet for a moment. Finally, he looked up at Ianto's face for the first time and the tears came streaming from his eyes.

"I love you, Jack. Please believe me."

Jack opened and closed his mouth a few times as he blinked rapidly, clearing the tears. "Ianto?"

"Jack."

They embrace and kissed passionately as the Doctor watched Gwen and Rhys in the window, slowly realizing what had happened.


	5. Ianto's Secret

Gwen and Rhys turned to each other. Jack was kissing the mysterious stranger. Not that this was strange, it was Jack after all. "But it can't be," Rhys said shaking his head.

"Absolutely not," Gwen said, turning back to the window. The Doctor was looking at her, smiling. Jack and the stranger broke apart and they all headed towards the door to the flat. A few seconds later there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," she said making her way to the door.

Gwen opened the door and found herself face-to-face with the Doctor only a few inches apart. "Oi!" she said stepping back. "What do you lot want then?" She tried very hard to only look at the Doctor's face.

"We were wondering if we might come in," came a very familiar voice. It could not possible belong to the same man, though. Finally Gwen let her eyes move from the Doctor's face to Jack's and then finally to that face. It simply could not be. Rhys had come to join them in the entry by this point and he was staring, too.

"But I saw him," Gwen said. "He was definitely dead."

"Definitely," said Rhys. "We were to the funeral."

"I helped Rhia plan the funeral. He was definitely dead."

"Was being the operative word here," Ianto said. "Can we come in, Gwen? The Doctor was going to explain this all."

"What do you mean?" Rhys said immediately.

"I don't know how I'm alive either, Rhys."

"But I do," the Doctor sound to calm and friendly for such and occasion. Gwen and Rhys both eyed him with suspicion. "If we could just come in and sit down, I could explain everything."

"Yeah, okay. Alright, you can come in," Gwen said stepping back from the door.

"Where's Anwen then?" Jack said looking around.

"I've put her to bed," Rhys said sitting in an armchair. Jack and Ianto sat next to each other on the sofa, a lot closer than was necessary for two people sharing such a large area. The Doctor took the rocker and Gwen the other armchair.

"Quite right, too," Jack said smiling. They all turned to face the Doctor in that moment. He smiled mischievously around the room.

"Now, the story you've all been waiting for. The story of Ianto Jones, immortal man," the Doctor began his story with a part they'd all lived or heard before.

"Ianto's funeral held two weeks to the day after his death, was quite the affair. So busy in fact, that none of you saw me enter the church," he was look at Gwen and Rhys now. "Once you two had left and Johnny had taken Mica and David home to bed, Rhia was still in the church and I came out of the back room where I'd been hiding."

"My sister?" Ianto was getting more confused rather than less as the story began.

"You sister, Ianto. I talked with her for half-an-hour before she left. It was getting late and her children needed their mum. I told Rhia parts of what I'm telling you now and I told her what I was planning to do. She agreed it was for the best to wait this year to bring you back, Ianto. She knew that it was best if everyone'd gotten over the grief before you were here again. She agreed not to tell anyone about our conversation, not until tomorrow, when she'll be expecting you to come 'round for dinner, Ianto." Ianto nodded, making a mental note to himself.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Jack said, a little heart-broken.

"I did Jack. That's why I brought him here to you tonight."

"But then. Last year, you didn't think to tell me then."

"Jack, please. You must understand. I had seen you at the Intergalactic bar, six months from then, still grieving. I didn't know Ianto was going be living at the time or I wouldn't have suggested…" the Doctor trailed off.

"No, of course not, you wouldn't have coerced me into have sex with that midshipman."

"Who?" Ianto said, faintly.

"No one," Jack said turning to Ianto. "No one."

"But you said, he coerced you into having sex with someone, Jack."

"He did, but it was six months ago and it was one night. And it shouldn't have happened," he said giving the Doctor a meaningful look. "Continue."

"Thank you," the Doctor said trying to remember where he was. "And so I opened the casket again and sat there, waiting. I knew it was to happen that night, but I didn't know when. It was nearly one in the morning before Ianto sat up gasping for air." He smiled at Ianto while he talked. "But more on that later. You all really wanted to know what caused it, right." Everyone nodded at the Doctor. "Right, then. So Clara and I were in the year 4500 the other day, dealing with some spoonheads, when I ran into an old friend." His gaze turned to Jack as he said that. "You, Jack, were sitting alone in a restaurant we visited, waiting."

"He was alone?" Ianto said with a note of sadness overcoming his voice and echoing across Jack's expression.

"Waiting," the doctor pressed, "as I found out for Ianto to return from fetching your drinks." The relief on Ianto's face was echoed by that on Jack's. "I knew Ianto had died. The events with the 456 are a fixed point in time and his name was on the casualty list, as was yours, Jack." Gwen sighed at that. "Well, of course I knew you'd survive, but Ianto, it didn't make sense. So we waited with you until he returned. And when he did, he looked much the same as he does right now. At first I thought you must have been time-travelling from before the 456, but when Ianto returned he recounted to me the events of this evening." The Doctor gave Ianto a meaningful look and Ianto made himself another mental note. The Doctor smiled as he continued, "Ianto, do you remember the very first time we met?" Ianto nodded. "The little problem you all were having at Torchwood London?"

"The ghosts," Ianto said.

"The cybermen," the Doctor corrected.

"Well, yeah," Ianto said, cringing slightly.

"And the rift? Do you remember what happened?"

"Sort of," Ianto said, straining his memory. "When it opened up, and the cybermen came through, I was there."

"You never told me that," Jack said, worriedly.

"No," Ianto said, turning to Jack, "I never told anyone. I was there," he continued. "I watched and there was a burst of rift energy. It was a man-made rift though, so it was strong, concentrated."

The Doctor nodded. "You're beginning to understand now," he said as Ianto smiled.

"I think I am," Ianto said. "And just as the energy burst happened, I took a deep breath and I could tell immediately that something was wrong, I breathed in a part of the rift."

Jack stared at Ianto, wondering how this was the one story he had neglected to share before now.

"That rift," Jack said turning to the Doctor. "What was it made out of?"

"Pure time vortex," the Doctor answered knowingly. "And you of all people know what happens when someone inhales that, because Rose," it was obvious that saying her name still caused the Doctor a great deal of pain, "blew some into you a few years ago."

"It makes you immortal," Jack said, his jaw falling open as he turned to look at Ianto.


	6. The Doctor Departing

"Well then. I'll just be off. Clara and I have got some planets to save. See you around," the Doctor stood up and headed for the door, as he put his hand on the nob, Jack suddenly broke from staring at Ianto's face.

"Hold it!" Jack got up and walked over to where the Doctor had frozen in place. "You, have some more explaining to do."

"I do?"

"How did you know what to do?"

"Ianto told me," the Doctor said pointing. "And he simply must remember to do that."

"Oh, right," said Jack stepping back. "Where are you going?"

"Eye of Orion. I promised Clara we would," he said with a heavy sigh, turning the door knob.

"Can I come?" Jack asked. "With you? In the TARDIS?"

"No, Jack," the Doctor shook his head, looking at Ianto with a smile. "You have people here that need you."

Jack turned to look at the sunken faces of the three people he cared about most in the world and swallowed hard. He smiled at them and their expressions mellowed slightly.

The Doctor opened the door and stepped through to the hall. Just before he closed the door behind himself, he poked his head in one last time. "Oh, and Jack?"

Jack turned back towards the door. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Spoilers." And with that the Doctor was gone. The four of them went to the window, Jack's arm around Ianto's shoulders to watch. The Doctor waved to them and closed the door of the TARDIS and there was that noise again as slowly the big blue box dematerialized before their eyes.


	7. Dinner with the Family

"All this for a Tuesday night?" Johnny said, taking a whiff of the delicious smelling air as he walked into the kitchen/family room area.

"We're having company," Rhia said as she went about smashing the potatoes.

"We are?"

"An old friend is back in town," she said with a smile.

"Anyone I know?"

"Yeah," she said, laughing to herself.

"So who is it?"

"An old friend," she repeated.

"Yes, yes, but what's her name?" Johnny persisted. This was getting ridiculous.

"No need. He'll be here soon. I told him 6:30."

"Him? What's going on, Rhia?"

"Making dinner. Having company," she said turning from the stove and beginning to set the table. "Now could you go and get David and Mica, please? Have them wash up for dinner."

"Not going to tell me who's coming then?"

"You'll see soon. Go and fetch the kids."

"Alright, alright," and he left mumbling something under his breath.

Mica enter the room a few minutes later. "Daddy says someone's coming for dinner, Mum. Who is it?" Mica inquired as she sat on the couch, picking up the playstation controller and turning the console on.

"Oh no you don't. Put it down and come help me with the table." Mica stood up and rolled eyes, but obliged her mother's command. Her older brother entered the room not but a few moments later. "David, turn that thing off and then come and help your sister with this table." He too rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Johnny returned a few minutes later.

"Now, come off it Rhia, who's it coming for dinner?"

"He'll be here any moment, Johnny, just breath." She went to the sink and washed her hands before setting about moving the food to the table. As she finished, Rhia took a step back to look at everything and as she sighed with its completion the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," she said, eyeing her husband who had made a move for the door.

The Doctor hadn't said exactly what or how much Rhia knew about what was happening with him, but he did say that she was expecting him for dinner at 6:30 this evening. He wasn't going to disappoint his little sister again. He'd left Jack back at the Hub and headed out to Cromwell Estate alone. This was going to be awkward enough, no need to drag his boyfriend, or whatever Jack was into it too. When he reached the stoop he rang the bell. He could hear footsteps approaching the door.

"Ianto," she said with relief as she swung the door open. "Come in, come in." Rhia ushered her brother inside, taking his jacket in the entry and hanging it in the cupboard there.

"Do they know I'm here?"

She half-smiled at him. "I didn't want them to be disappointed if you didn't show."

Ianto's face fell. It was clear that Rhia knew enough, but that she was more worried that he wouldn't show up of his own accord. He'd done that to her too many times in the past. It wasn't going to happen again. Not now. Not when he knew that someday he'd outlive her. "I'm sorry."

"Whatchu sorry for?" she asked, smacking his shoulder. "You're here, aren't you? That's what matters, then, yeah?"

"Yeah," he said with a small smile.

"Who's that? Who is it?" Johnny came round the corner from the kitchen. He froze in place the moment he saw Ianto's face. Ianto smiled at his brother-in-law.

"Daddy? Who is it? Who's here?" Ianto's face broke into a wide grin at the sound of his niece's voice.

"No one," Johnny said, turning back to the other room. "No one, Darling."

"But I heard Mummy talking to someone," she said precociously.

"It sounded like Uncle Ianto," David said.

"You know that's impossible, David."

"I know. I'm just saying. Whoever it is sounds like him, don't you think?"

"I suppose you're right," Johnny said, walking back towards the hallway. "You two stay here a moment, yeah?" The children rolled their eyes, but stayed where they were on the sofa. Johnny walked back into the hallway.

"Rhia, who is this?" He said approaching them, looking carefully at Ianto's face.

"What d'you mean, who am I?" Ianto said, rather louder than he anticipated.

In the family room, David turned to his little sister, "It really sounds like Uncle Ianto, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but you heard Daddy. That's impossible," she said.

"I mean," Johnny said in an intense whisper. "Who the fuck are you? You come into my house, talking with that voice, and make my kids think they're Uncle Ianto's come 'round for tea. Just popping back from the grave, I suppose. Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"You'll never change, will you?" Ianto said, laughing to himself.

"Johnny," Rhia said, trying to comfort him. "This is Ianto."

"But that's impossible, Rhia. Ianto's dead."

"I'm not," he said cautiously. "Really didn't tell anyone, did you?"

"He made me swear I wouldn't. In case something happened," she said shaking her head.

"For the best I suppose," Ianto said, nodding at his sister as she patted her husband's arm. "It's really me though. When through this whole thing with my coworkers last night."

"The handsome man?"

Ianto sighed, his face going red. "Yes. And his name's Jack."

"Jack?"

"Yes. Now, are we going to have dinner, or stand in the entry all night?" Ianto was getting impatient. He'd known that Rhia wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but he thought she'd have the sense to tell her family who was coming 'round for tea.

"So, where is Jack?" She asked. Johnny still hadn't moved and she was still patting his arm comfortingly.

"At the Hub."

"You're boyfriend doesn't want to meet your family?" Ianto's face fell. "Oh, you didn't want your family to meet your boyfriend then?" His face fell further.

"No, Rhia. I didn't ask him. You wanted me 'round for dinner and here I am. It's the first time you've seen or heard from me in over a year and this is what you want to talk about?"

"No, no. Of course not. Are you quite alright then?" she asked suddenly seeming more like a sister should in a time like this, if there even was a protocol for that.

"Quite."

"Well, good. Come on then," she said, waving for him to following into the kitchen. Johnny stayed in the hall, frozen where he was out of shock. It was a good 15 seconds before he came 'round and followed them.

"Kids," Rhia said as they entered the room. "You're Uncle Ianto's come to visit."

"I told you it sounded like Uncle Ianto!" David said turning around to look at them.

"But Daddy said it wasn't. He said that was impossible," Mica said as she turned around.

"It's me," Ianto said, smiling at his niece and nephew as he pulled his wallet out. He handed each of the children 50 quid and stowed the wallet back in his pants pocket.

For most of the meal, talk was casual. The children told their Uncle stories of the year he'd missed and Rhia told him the news that had happened. Johnny was uncharacteristically quiet the entire time. He only nodded and mumbled agreement as the chatter around him passed. Finally, as Rhia was clearing the table and after the kids had moved back to the sofa and started up with their video games again, Johnny spoke.

"So, I guess I'll just ask the question we're all wondering, Ianto." Everyone paused, Rhia turned from the sink, Ianto stared at Johnny, and the kids looked up from their game.

"How is it that a year after we was all at your funeral, you're sitting at my kitchen table having dinner like nothing's even happened? Or did I miss something?"

Ianto sighed. He knew that was coming, but what could he really tell them. Certainly not the truth. "It's complicated, Johnny. I'm going to be around for a long time. A long time after you're gone. After the kids are gone."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean to say," Ianto took a deep breath he didn't have much of a choice her. "I'm not going to die at least not permanently. I can't. Something happened a while back. I didn't even know until I woke up in my casket. But something happened and now I can't stay dead."

"That friend o' yours, Gwen; she told us you was involved in that nonsense with the children last year. Said you that Jack of yours talked to the things that caused it."

"We did and they released a poisonous gas into Thames House. We all died. Jack, me, everyone in there. Of course me and Jack can't die for good though."

"You and Jack can't die. Was something he did to you?"

"No," Ianto smiled. At first he had thought that might be it, until the Doctor reminded him of what happened in London. "No, it happened when I was living in London."

"When you was in London. But that was years ago."

"Yeah, it was," he said looking down at his hands. Trying to figure out where to start. "I inhaled something. Something dangerous. And now. If I die, I come right back. Of course the first time takes a little longer. It gets quicker with practice, Jack said."

"So how old is he, Jack? You talk like he's done this for a while."

"I'm not even sure if Jack knows how old he is. He's died a lot. He's not from around here, and I don't just mean America. He's aging though. It's just really slow. He inhaled the same thing or rather, he had someone throw some into him when he'd already died the first time."

"Well, what is it then? We can all just go inhaled that stuff and no one will die, then, right?"

"It's not like that, Johnny. You can't just find the stuff. It's hard to get a hold of. We can't have too many immortal people just wandering around. We don't know what's going to happen to me and Jack if we live for millions of years. No one does. Not even the Doctor."

"That Doctor fellow. He said you told him what was going to happen. How's that then?" Rhia said suddenly, sitting back down at the table.

"Well, the Doctor, he's a time traveler. He goes all over the place. That's how I got to Gwen's last night. The Doctor took me with him in his time machine."

"He has a time machine?" Ianto nodded. "Then why couldn't he just go back and save you before you died at all?"

"Because what happened at Thames House is a fixed point in time and space. He can't alter those. It's rather complicated, but he did what he could. I can't tell you everything. You've just got to trust me." Ianto said, standing up. At that moment his phone in his pocket buzzed. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. It was Jack. "I've got to take this," he said smiling at them. Rhia nodded as he held the phone up to his ear. "Jack?"

"Ianto! We've got a Weevil problem down by the docks again. Rhys and I are on our way, but we could use a third pair of hands."

"On my way," he said hanging up. "I've got to go. I'll talk to you soon." They didn't try to stop him. This is how Ianto's visits always ended, with an abrupt phone call and a quick departure. "Good-bye."

Ianto took his coat from the closet on his way out the door. He got into his car and sped off towards the docks. It seemed like just last week he was off chasing Weevils with Jack, but he knew that wasn't true at least not for the others.


End file.
